#OffTheMIC: You – Essie ft. CODE (Free Download)

Welcome to the first #CODEConnect session of the year 2015. For this Thursday’s #CODEConnect segment #OffTheMIC, we decided to talk to the members behind “Crown ACE” about their first project ‘YOU’ on which Essie features CODE and produced by Josh SB. Crown Ace comprises of CODE, Essie & the producer/video director Josh SB who has been behind most of CODE’s projects. We reached out to them to tell us creative process of the track ‘YOU’. It’s an Afro fusion of hip hop and soul off her upcoming EP. In-case you haven’t listened to the track yet, you can download it here.

YOU started as an idea between Josh and I. We wanted to help Essie create a powerful single to announce her return to the music scene with a bang. But also, we needed a dope lead single for her upcoming EP, “SickBeatz and Soul”. Josh is insane with the beats so this time we decided to not give him our preferences. We just let him create. He sent the beat to Essie and I and we began writing. We hit studio and the session was even more pumped up. Jokes flying every where, Melodies popping out of nowhere, it was effortless. Fun Fact : Essie went HAM in the booth first. I took my sweet time and finally recorded. We played the rough version till about 5am the next morning and left studio around 12:00 noon. Everyone couldn’t get enough of Essie. And She wanted to rap, yet that’s my job!!! Any-who, from that point till today, response for YOU has been great. We cant thank the listeners enough. Crown ACE promises to deliver. Braaaap !

YOU was written on a beat I created after CODE challenged me to experiment with African cultural drums some time back so I got right into it and spent two nights in studio trying to craft it. The first attempt to lay down genuine African drums kinda didn’t yield any sensible results because I’d never tried anything of that kind before. It’s until I watched a documentary about the richest African monarch which ended with this amazing west African drum groove that kept pulsing in my mind the whole night till the next day when I hit studio and with that inspiration I managed to lay down an authentic west African drum groove in logic.

The trick was marrying African drums with R&B and hip-hop all at the same time but thanks to my live music background I managed to lay down soft melodic piano work and a liltle bit of groovy electronic sounds (typical of SB) on top of the African drums and of-course the hip-hop groove was the easy part. The recording session was pretty inspiring, fun and tiresome at the same time cause we composed the song right there during the session and spent the whole night arranging and recording (plus a bit of comedy). CODE nailed his bars and Essie surely delivered vocally until she couldn’t deliver no more (laughs). But I must say this is a song where Essie fully expressed who she is musically and I also managed to express myself musically through the musical arrangement of the song where each switch up is a perfect representation of my different musical background.
It’s a crazy jam specially made for pop music fans all over the globe. Big up to all those who spread the word and made noise about it on social media. WE GOT “YOU”

The journey to recording of You started with Josh SB creating a beat that was a fusion of Pop and RnB, something more of a CODE ft. Essie track. CODE however suggested we make it an Essie ft. CODE track to get me back on the music scene and to introduce Crown Ace to the UG music scene as well, an idea we all thought was great! Josh made a couple of adjustments here and there with a fusion of RnB, Soul, House, and Hip-hop which gave it more of an Essie feel. Well I must say, a Crown Ace recording session is always an epic musical turn up except for the part where those guys pick on me (Yes i’m reporting You).

A lot of innovation and creativity is embraced to create a great sound or something never heard before which is easy since CODE, Josh and I are quite syndicated musically. For “YOU” the recording session was between midnight and midday (for the love of music). CODE had the hook written down already (‘obugalo’) and for the rest, it was each man for himself and God for us all. I went in first to voice the hook, wrote my verse while CODE and Josh worked on the intro, recorded my verse while CODE wrote his verse and finally watched CODE record his verse. Josh mixed and mastered to create such a great tune. I’m more than grateful for the support from the fans, feedback, online interaction and reception of the song and urge you to keep sharing and requesting for the song on your favorite request shows. Expect a lot from Crown Ace this year including my EP Sickbeatz n’ soul that i’m currently working on with Josh. Thank you for the support and keep supporting Crown Ace and UG music generally on the map.